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January 27, 2011

Pretend & Real Chinese Foods

I've had a thing for felt food ever since I made these cupcakes.

Then, Let's go fly a kite posted Chinese foods made of felt here and I immediately fell in love and knew I needed to make some for Josie's cooking adventures.

She also posted a dramatic play area featured in her sister's preschool to honor Chinese New Year here. I especially loved how they used yarn and Chinese take-out containers with chopsticks in their preschool cooking area, so of course I had to make some for Josie too.

PS. You can get take-out style containers at the Dollar Tree right now and I printed off the Chinese take-out graphic online and glued it to the box. In case you are wondering, felt is roughly .29 cents per square at Michael's (regular price). I used hot glue instead of thread & needle to construct my foods.

Let's go fly a kite has quickly become one of my favorite blogs. She has so many inspirational crafting ideas.

When you are ready for some real Chinese food, here are a few of our favorite dishes/recipes at our house: egg drop soup, steamed dumplings and lettuce wraps.

EGG DROP SOUP

Ingredients

4 cups chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh scallions
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

Directions

1. Reserve 3/4 cup of chicken broth, and pour the rest into a large saucepan. Stir the salt and chives into the saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together using a fork. Drizzle egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture. Egg should cook immediately. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually until the soup is the desired consistency.

STEAMED DUMPLINGS


During the Chinese New Year this month, families in China will feast on jiaozi, yummy meat-filled dumplings.

3 stalks Chinese cabbage
2 scallions
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 10-oz. package prepared
dumpling wrappers

Finely chop the Chinese cabbage and scallions and put them in a mixing bowl. Add the soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, and pork. Mix well with a spoon.

Place 1 teaspoon of filling on each wrapper. Fold the wrappers into half circles. Moisten the inside edges with water, and press them together to seal.

We use a steamer that I purchased at World Market, but you can also use a large pot. In a large pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and cover. When the water resumes boiling, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this step twice. When the water boils for the third time, the dumplings will be done. Serve with 1/4 cup soy sauce mixed with 2 tablespoons white vinegar. Makes 4 dozen dumplings.

LETTUCE WRAPS


Lettuce leaves, washed and separated
2 scallions chopped
broccoli coleslaw mix (I saute my coleslaw mix in a skillet for just a few minutes with a splash of white wine vinegar)
Chicken cooked and shredded
Almonds (toasted) or chopped cashews

Lay out a lettuce leaf and spoon a heaping teaspoon of the shredded chicken and broccoli coleslaw mixture into the middle. The lettuce wraps are designed to be eaten "taco-style," with the lettuce/chicken mixture folded into a package. Continue with the remainder of the chicken and lettuce leaves. Serve with toasted almonds and peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey and lemon juice. Use the peanut butter sauce for dipping. You can also pour the peanut sauce over the mixture before you put into the lettuce wraps.

Happy Cooking!
Happy Crafting!
XOXO

16 comments:

Jodee said...

Oh my word! That felt food is the cutest! I love the pink "to go" boxes too! I wish I had your creative bone!

I am heading over to check out that blog! Hope you have a great day!

Beach Mama said...

I can see that I am going to have to get busy making some of these! I've seen felt fortune cookies. A friend of mine made the cutest mooncakes using an actual mooncake mold to imprint the design into damp felt (100%wool) and letting it dry. So-o cute!

La Vie Quotidienne said...

I love the felt food...I am in love with all artificial food. The recipes look delicious! Yummy

Heather said...

I just love that felt food! I wish that I had a little girl so that I could make such adorable things! The recipes look yummy too. Thanks for sharing!

Jodi said...

Those are soo cute!!! Just in time for my trip to Hobby Lobby today!

Cindy said...

Hi Kim,
Great minds think alike...except I don't have the right colored felt! I saw that on Let's Go Fly a Kite's blog and loved it! She really does have some awesome ideas...just like another person I know! I am also going to use her yarn and take-out box idea on the kids to use for chopstick practice before we go out to eat for CNY.

Anyway, I am headed to Hobby Lobby for some felt this weekend. Tori loves anything to do with cooking...I may try some mini-mini versions for her AG kitchen she will receive soon (on back order)for her b-day.

Thanks for the recipes!
Cindy

Donna said...

Those lettuce wraps sound yummy! I just read that this is the year of the rabbit, and I was born in a rabbit year. So maybe this will be a lucky year for me! Keep warm!

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

WOW! What a great felt food spread!!! Everything looks so perfect, and those boxes. I can see why everyone just wanted to stay home and play. Your felt dumplings could so pass for the real ones pictured below. Those recipes are excellent, I am going to print out this post for my recipe book and send the link to a few of my good friends too. Gung Hay Fat Choi!!!

Melody Lietzau said...

I just stumbled upon your blog and love all your creative ideas.

PandaMom said...

You are CRAZY CREATIVE!!!! Love it! ; )

Life in Rehab said...

This was awesome! I love the dumplings, and the yarn lo mien looks fantastic. I never thought of Asian play food- I wish I had, the kids would have loved it.

La Dolce Vita: The Sweet Life said...

Just added myself as a follower. Love all the CNY ideas!

Nik's Knacks said...

LOVE the felt food!! I've always, always loved fake food, so cute.
I also love that you hot glue instead of sew...I think I'm allergic to needles and thread, cannot even FATHOM how to sew anything!!
Have a wonderful, crafty weekend!

Karin said...

Oh wow...LOVE the felt Chinese food!! :) SO CUTE!! And the real food looks yummy although I'm too lazy to make it. haha

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